Iran's Pre-Islamic Legacy

American archaeology buffs are in for a treat this year: The British Museum in London plans to lend the Cyrus Cylinder—a small, clay object that recounts the ancient Persian emperor Cyrus's conquest of Babylon—to museums across the U.S., starting with the Smithsonian in March.

Although it dates back to the 6th-century B.C., Iranians see the cylinder as "the first charter of human rights," as the shah described it in the...